An energy assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) head for writing to a recording media is disclosed. The EAMR head includes a write pole for providing a magnetic field for writing to the recording media; and a near field transducer disposed adjacent to the write pole and comprising a disk section and a pin section extending towards an air bearing surface (ABS) from the disk section. At least a portion of the pin section is electrically isolated from the write pole by an insulator material.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. An energy assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) head for writing to a recording media, the EAMR head comprising: a write pole for providing a magnetic field for writing to the recording media; at least one laser for providing energy to the recording media to assist the writing; a near field transducer (NFT) disposed adjacent to the write pole and coupled with the at least one laser, the NFT configured to direct the energy to a corresponding thermal spot on the recording media, wherein the NFT comprises a disk section and a pin section extending towards an air bearing surface (ABS) from the disk section, and wherein the disk section is separated from the write pole by a heat sink layer and at least a portion of the pin section is separated from the write pole by an insulating layer.
2. The EAMR head of claim 1 , wherein at least the disk section of the NFT comprises a first material capable of supporting a surface-plasmon resonance in the disk section when subjected to the energy.
3. The EAMR head of claim 2 , wherein the first material is selected from a group consisting of Au, Ag, Cu, and Al.
4. The EAMR head of claim 1 , wherein the disk section of the NFT comprises a substantially circular disk comprising Au.
5. The EAMR head of claim 1 , wherein the disk section and the pin section of the NFT comprise Au.
6. The EAMR head of claim 2 , wherein the disk section is coupled to the write pole via a heat sink layer comprising a second material.
7. The EAMR head of claim 6 , wherein the disk region of the NFT has a thickness in a range between about 10 and 100 nm, and the heat sink layer has a thickness in a range between about 10 and 100 nm.
8. The EAMR head of claim 6 , wherein the second material is selected from a group consisting of Cu, Au, Ag, and Al.
9. The EAMR head of claim 6 , wherein the first material exhibits a stronger surface-plasmon resonance than the second material.
10. The EAMR head of claim 6 , wherein the first material is Au, and the second material is Cu.
11. The EAMR head of claim 1 , wherein the corresponding thermal spot does not extend into a region of the recording media below the write pole.
12. The EAMR head of claim 1 , wherein the insulating layer prevents a skin depth penetration of the energy into a corresponding portion of the write pole adjacent to the insulating layer.
13. The EAMR head of claim 1 , wherein the pin section has a rectangular cross section in a plane parallel to the ABS.
14. The EAMR head of claim 1 , wherein the pin section has a non-rectangular cross section in a plane parallel to the ABS.
15. The EAMR head of claim 1 , wherein the pin section has a thickness in an along-track direction of between about 10 and 100 nm.
16. The EAMR head of claim 1 , wherein the pin section has a width in a cross-track direction of between about 10 and 500 nm.
17. The EAMR head of claim 1 , wherein the insulating layer has a thickness of between about 10 and 100 nm.
18. The EAMR head of claim 1 , wherein the insulator layer comprises a material selected from a group consisting of Si 3 N 4 , Al 2 O 3 , AlN, GaN, SiO 2 , and BN 4 .
19. The EAMR head of claim 1 , wherein the EAMR head is configured to write a plurality of radially-spaced overlapping data tracks of data on the recording media.
20. The EAMR head of claim 1 , wherein the corresponding spot has a width not less than a track pitch of the recording media.
21. An energy assisted magnetic recording (EAMR) head for writing to a recording media comprising: a write pole for providing a magnetic field for writing to the recording media; and a near field transducer disposed adjacent to the write pole and comprising a disk section and a pin section extending towards an air bearing surface (ABS) from the disk section, wherein the disk section is separated from the write pole by a heat sink layer and at least a portion of the pin section is electrically isolated from the write pole by an insulator material.
Cooperative Patent Classification codes for this invention. Click any code to explore related patents in that topic.
June 15, 2010
November 27, 2012
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